Tiny homes with a view: Ithaca volunteers provide shelters for homeless men (video)

ITHACA, N.Y. - For the past six months, William Metro has lived in a one-room, 16- by 20-foot cottage in the hills outside Ithaca. It's far better than being homeless, he says. Metro, 38, is one of six formerly homeless men who live at

, a cluster of tiny houses set in a row off Route 13 in the town of Newfield, four miles south of Ithaca. Second Wind opened in January 2014, the brainchild of Carmen Guidi, who owns an auto body shop next door to the cottages. Guidi, who has volunteered to help homeless men for years, donated seven acres and organized dozens of volunteers to build the 320-square-foot cottages.

Similar tiny-house initiatives to help the homeless have sprouted up in several cities including Eugene, Ore.; Olympia, Wash.; Austin, Texas; Madison, Wis.; and Huntsville, Ala. Guidi said building small houses struck him and other volunteers as an affordable, common-sense alternative to homeless shelters or large apartment complexes. "This tiny house thing came about from a few guys who were involved in this who said, 'If we were homeless, would we want to go to a shelter? Or would we want to live in a large low-income housing building? Or would we want to have our own place?' '' he said. "I think a lot of people don't like to live in those low-income, mass apartment buildings, and some will not go to a shelter.'' Cluttered with books, clothes and other possessions, Metro's home is a bit cramped, and there's not enough room for Metro's two young sons to stay overnight. But the tiny house has a kitchen, a bathroom and a bed. "It's a roof over my head,'' says the soft-spoken Metro, who spent half a year couch surfing before he moved in. "I'm glad I have it, temporarily.'' With volunteer labor and some donated materials, the cottages in Newfield cost $12,000 to $15,000 each to build, Guidi said. By comparison, low-income apartments in Upstate New York typically cost at least $150,000 per unit to build. Guidi partnered with a Christian group called Community Faith Partners to establish Second Wind Cottages. The volunteers built six furnished cottages and one unfinished building that has no kitchen or bathroom but can be used as emergency shelter. They are raising donations now in hopes of build several more cottages and a community building this summer. The key to Second Wind's success has been to build relationships with the tenants, many of whom moved to the cottages "straight from the woods,'' Guidi said. He and other volunteers provide transportation or other support to the men, several of whom have obtained full-time jobs since moving in. Wearing a distinctive black top hat, Metro, a self-employed magician, can often be seen performing on the street in downtown Ithaca. He also tapes a weekly cable-access talk show on Time Warner Cable, where he delivers conservative Republican political commentary, he said. Metro said his cottage is far superior to staying at a homeless shelter. He said he hopes to find his own apartment eventually. "I want to move into a place where I can at least allow my kids to come visit and stay,'' he said. Contact Tim Knauss anytime: